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Bowen began as a teenage recording star in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' with You". The song started as the flip side of the hit record "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox (written by Knox and Bowen), but ultimately hit the charts on its own, peaking at No. 14 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Bowen's version sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold record.[3] Bowen's singing career did not take off as well as that of Knox, his partner in the Rhythm Orchids, and ultimately he abandoned a singing career, choosing to stay in the production end of the music industry.

Bowen produced his first movie soundtrack in 1970, for Vanishing Point, which was released in 1971. That soundtrack contains three songs which he composed, as well as music from the band Mountain and from Big Mama Thorton. The three Bowen pieces are an incidental theme called "Love Theme", credited to Jimmy Bowen Orchestra, and two others, "Super Soul Theme" and the hard-rock piece "Freedom of Expression", credited to The J.B. Pickers.[7] Other soundtracks include the movies Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Slugger's Wife (1985), and the soundtrack of the theater play Big River (1988).[7]